Can I take any action on noisy neighbours after buying a property?

Question

I just moved into my new home and I ran into my first problem: my neighbours tend to throw these very loud parties, which wouldn’t be that great of a problem if they wouldn’t occur every night. What can I do to stop this? Are there any legal measures to overcome this problem? There was no mention of this in the Property Information Form.

Answer

Section 2 of the Property Information Form requires the Seller to disclose anything which may lead to a dispute and also whether the Seller has had cause to make a compliant to a neighbour. If the neighbours were throwing loud parties during the Sellers ownership the Seller should have been aware of this and disclosed this on the Property Information Form.

If you can prove that the Seller has made a false statement, and that you entered into the Contract on reliance of that statement, you could have a breach of Contract claim against the Seller. Unfortunately there is no public funding available for such claims and the costs could therefore be quite expensive. You should check with your home insurance policy as some policies cover the costs of litigation.

You could also consider making a complaint to the Environmental Health Department who has a duty to investigate complaints of noise pollution. If they feel that your complaint is justified after investigation they could issue your neighbours with a warning notice and they would face penalty fines for failure to comply with this Notice.

You should also consider whether the neighbours are tenants or owner occupiers. If they are tenants they are likely to be in breach of the terms of their tenancy agreement and you could therefore contact their Landlord to see if they would be prepared to take any action against them.

Before you take any action, however, you may wish to consider the impact this action could have on you. Neighbour disputes can escalate very quickly and could affect your use and enjoyment of your home and potentially affect the value.

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